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Photo by Jennifer Watkins
Service Towing Inc. and other regional businesses make up about one-fourth of 105 groups in the annual Detroit St. Patrick's Day parade.

Corktown is popping with new restaurants and bars — and so is the St. Patrick's Day Parade that goes down the middle of it.

The number of businesses participating in Sunday's parade in Detroit has risen 90 percent from last year, according to Michael Kelly, president of the United Irish Societies and the 56th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

"These are businesses owned and operated by people active in the Irish community," he said, including a variety of Irish pubs from around the city.

The parade is well stocked with pipe and drum groups and Detroit area high school marching bands, and it starts off with the Detroit Mounted Police division and the Celtic Pipe & Drum, Kelly said. But interspersed among them are plenty of local and regional businesses, including corned beef maker E.W. Grobbel Sons Inc., Romulus-based Alta Equipment Co., Farmington Hills-based Corrigan Moving, Royal Transportation Co. in Detroit and others. About one-fourth of the parade's 105 groups are businesses, Kelly said.

Kelly said he's working to involve younger Irish Americans in the Michigan Avenue parade and make it more family friendly, with two clown teams and Irish dance schools involved, as well as more portable toilets and barricades.

"They realize that the parade is more than a party but a family celebration that promotes our Irish heritage and renews friendships," said Kelly, who's been co-chair of the parade for a decade. "We’ve been promoting the Irish culture" through the Michigan Irish American Chamber of Commerce, which has helped grow business participation, Kelly said.

The Michigan Irish chamber has grown from 24 to 65 members in two years. Kelly serves on its board of directors and is a "strong leader," said Dave O'Connor, chamber president.

Kelly is founder and president of Inkster-based Environmental Maintenance Engineers Inc., which removes asbestos and other hazardous materials from buildings.

Boulevard & Trumbull Towing Inc. has been in Corktown for decades and this will be its fifth year in the parade. This year, three tow trucks and a loader will be part of the event, decorated by the drivers with streamers and signs.

"They get pretty excited to clean up the trucks, and decorate them and bring their families in the parade," said Jennifer Fiore, a vice president of Boulevard. The company also hosts a big party before and after the parade for staff, customers and invited officials.

Fiore suggested that the parade's growth mirrors the gains in Corktown, with new restaurants and bars such as MotorCity Wine and Ottava Via.